A unique record of an apprenticeship and fascinating insight to the working practices of the
motorcycle industry at the SE London factory of Associated Motor Cycles Ltd in the 1950s and 1960s.
***Now re-printed in paperback format - Click here for OBM review ***

The Matchless Colliers - by Bill Cakebread
(one.track@btinternet.com)

Ex-AMC apprentice Bill Cakebread's second book about the world famous motorcycle manufacturer, in which
he compiles the full history of the Collier family and their various achievements throughout the life
of the Company.

Book 1 of 2-part autobiography records Colin Seeley's close links with the Matchless factory and its G50 racing bikes.

Motorcycle Engineering - by Phil Irving
Temple Press (1961)

Written by an eminent designer of the 1960s, with an international reputation, this book (now out of print)
sets out all the problems - technical, commercial and aesthetic - upon whose solution the success of any new
motorcycle must depend.

Articles

Profitable Days at Plumstead (pdf)

A 4-page article in which Jock West, the successful road racer who became a sales executive, talks about his days at AMC.

Working for AMC (pdf)

In this 5-page article, Brian Slark gives an account of conditions and working practices at the AMC factory
during his time there as a production worker and tester in the early '60s.

Ex Matchless, AJS and Norton road tester Alan Jones recalls life in the golden age of the British motorcycle industry.

Made in Plumstead (pdf)

This 6-page article, reproduced from the May 1989 edition of MotorCycle Sport magazine, features reminiscences by ex-AMC employees
of their work at the Plumstead factory from the early days up to its closure twenty years previously, as told at the anniversary
exhibition and rally held in Woolwich to mark the occasion.

Sixty Years at the Top - by Deryck Wylde
Reproduction of Motor Cycle Weekly's January 22, 1983 instalment of the series 'Roost Rulers: Potted Histories of the British Industry', complete with
the original illustrations.
An interesting article covering the early exploits of the Collier brothers, through the Second World War years and up to the
closure of the Plumstead factory, although containing many statements of dubious accuracy.

Machine tool re-equipment at AMC (Machine Tool Review)

A 12-page article published in the Alfred Herbert technical journal describes in detail their 1958 installation of
new machine tools into the AMC factory extension.